2012 disappeared in a long drive to Gothenburg to mate Huldra with one of Scandiavias best male Yorkshire Terriers, and this event would influence the entire year of 2013 with the births of Huldras first puppies, Cinema Paradiso and Suri Wasi.

Done with January and February we saw the births of Huldras puppies! The 4th of March was the date and with good help from Aina and Angelique everything went off just fine. Huldra turned out to be an excellent mother and took good care of her little ones.

The show was held in the first weekend of April. We did well this year too and placed well, but no champions this time. All got good reviews from the judge and NC Big Bang especially got the crowd talking :-)

At the end of of May shearing and births started. NC Magic Velvet, a cute suri alpaca from mom NC Shivas Dance and NC Diamond Axe, came first. Then they all came with nice regularity. All females gave birth to crias that now run around outside. There is nothing as nice as a pack of crias :-)

Summer months was nice for the crias. We had mostly great weather and very little insect, so they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Preparations for Gardtassing was one of the main activities, and that included fixing up the Brewery and finishing a new lawn. We’ll have a nice and green garden next year!

Fox arrived just in time for Gardtassing! We invited everyone we could reach to the first weekend of August where we could offer cosy days with alpacas and alpaca products, and of course nice drinks and things to eat. It was a huge success with around 200 visitors. We got great help from Tor and Heidi from Oddan Alpaca, Kirsten, Aina and Angelique, and with such help everything went off without a glitch.

We used November to prepare for the Christmas markets we were having in December. Mainly the Brewery. Both products and prizes were put on display, and to get a more permanent place to show off products have been a desire for a long time.

Two weekends in a row we had our Christmas markets, with a good turnout! Despite an icy wind the first weekend and heavy snowfall the second, many came to see and buy alpaca products. And to experience a nice and cosy time around the fire with traditional mulled wine and cookies. Thanks again to Tor, Heidi and Kirsten for all the help. Just like with Gardtassing we had little time for taking pictures, but above is a picture of us relaxing at the end of the day with some mulled wine.

The weather at the end of the year have not been very typical Winter weather. We’ve had all types of weather and got many wet alpacas, but they took it in their stride! Above is a wet Czarina smiling after getting milk from her mom. They are only wet on the outside, and dry and warm to their skin.

We had another visit from Max Mathews from Bardella Park Alpacas, Australia, in December. He came to us last Summer and wanted to come back to see us again. This time with many exciting fleece samples. Again we got lots of kudos from him on our alpacas, and he fell especially, and hard, for Big Bang. He also deserves kudos for his alpacas, so please visit his Facebook page. Above is a picture of one of his great greys, Shades of Grey.

Open Farm Days 2013 with the alpacas

“Gardtassing” is a Norwegian word meaning walking from farm to farm to see what’s going on (and maybe get something nice to eat and drink while you’re at it). It’s a tradition from old times. We were part of this in our area for the first time this year.

Two weeks prior to Open Farm Days 2013 we set up a page on Facebook for the days, and got almost 200 followers before the days started! This turned up the excitement for the days ahead.

We got more excitement Saturday, because the rain drops were present even before opening time at 11am, but there were still a steady stream of nice visitors that wanted to see and learn about alpacas, and who loved having a cosy time at our little farm. The shop were frequently visited and the food court were busy. (Image 1)

The Sun showed up Sunday! It could’ve been really hot, but a nice breeze made a perfect day. The fences around the alpaca paddocks were almost packed with interested people all day from before opening hours to well beyond.

Image 2: Aina and Angelique controlled the food and drinks, with Tor as coffee manager. He served real coffee made over open fire.

Image 3: The kids quickly felt right at home and enjoyed all the animals and fishes.

Image 4 and 5: Several of the alpaca girls appreciated freshly picked grass from the visitors. Here is Rose and Annie.

Image 6: The newly renovated Brewery were in the able hands of hostesses Kirsten and Heidi, and many got to see the many nice things you can make from alpaca fleece and feel the fleece off our own alpacas. The softness of the fleece from Soyance and Big Bang made many gasp in astonishment.

Image 7: Our nephew Eirik had a nice chat with Huldra.

Image 8: It’s nice to see how relaxed people are around the alpacas.

We estimated some 40 visitors Saturday despite the rain (it started pouring down from 3pm) and around 160 on Sunday. People were locals and from far away, and while some were with us a couple of hours some actually stayed most of the day and had a cosy time with Tors excellent coffee and goodies from the food court.

It was especially nice to meet those that had lived on the farm itself. Siblings Bjoern and Randi grew up on the farm and seemed very pleased with what we’ve done to the place. They got the full tour and could tell us many good stories about what had happened on the farm. The barn that is home to about 25 alpacas now were once the home for cows, pigs and sheep, for instance. It must’ve been a nice place to grow up!

Thank you all for a great experience! Many special thanks to Heidi and Tor, Aina, Angelique and Kirsten for invaluable help these two days. We had never made it without you!

We will talk a little less for a few days before it’s time for more cria births. Have a great late Summer!

The Norwegian Alpaca Show 2013

It is always a bit stressful right before a show. We have, so far, only one Norwegian show a year and you want to look good! We check the "things we need to bring"-list over and over and ask ourselves if we have prepared the alpacas well enough. No matter what the results are we want the alpacas to experience the least stress and show themselves at their best.

And they did! When we finally had moved into the riding center at Blixland our alpacas looked beautiful and they were calm while watching all the happenings. We are very proud of them. Ice Rose and Big Bang, now veterans, took it all in their stride and inspired the young girls to feel safe.

After a very brief walk-through by the judge, who probably was freezing as much as everyone else in the center, and a colour- and vet-check we were ready for the judging. The first tense moment was if Annie would end up in grey or multi coloured. She is genetically grey, but not very clear grey in her fleece.

The first thing the judge said when she saw Annie was "Why is she in grey?". And then she was moved to fawn... A shame, but like the judge said she was not clear enough grey to let her pass as a grey in the show. The judge agreed that Annie was most probably genetically grey, but that did not help the situation in the show.

Grey was quickly done as it was a very small class, sadly, and no Champion awarded.

Black became a competition between specialists on black and little Pluto. Pluto was beautifully blue black, and we picked him out as a probably winner even before we saw the others. Pluto were awared Champion Black.

Brown had 13 entries this year. A beautiful little girl from Sørum named Asteria were awarded Champion Brown.

Fawn is always a large class and we were curious to how Annie would fare in this class. And Annie did well! The judge went through her fleece from top to toe and found beautiful, shiny and well structured fleece no matter where she looked. She lost som points on colour contamination (!) and ended up in second place in the largest age group! We are very proud of her.

Big Bang strode into the arena with "wow"-comments from the audience. He is really a good looking guy and got a "fantastic presence!" from the judge. The judge had "good" in all her sentences while describing Big Bang and he easily took first place in his class, but in competition with the young boys he did not win Champion. The youngster Erik from Enghaugen were awarded Champion Fawn. We still think Big Bang looked best! We appreciated the comment from one other breeder at lunchtime that Big Bang "took her breath away". He looked a winner like he always does, and like his father also always does. He is a handsome young man.

After lunch it was time for the largest and most competitive colour class, white. We had with us our entire last year's white cria production, two little girls, and of course Ice Rose. We knew Rain Dancer is better than Dolce Mio, but it is hard to know what other breeders are bringing with them. The margins are incredibly small in the largest age group of Mio and Rain, and Rain were beaten by (according to the judge) a slightly more dense girl that later went on to win Reserve Champion White. Rain did great and you have to be pleased with winning second place in a lineup like this.

The judge had nice words to say about all the young girls and felt the competition was hard in this group.

Ice Rose walked so femininly and beautifully beside her new owner Laila when she entered the ring and lined up perfectly next to her handler, and no one looked better, we think. Laila and Ice had great report throughout the evaluation and we congratulate Laila with the ring debut! You did a great job. But the competition from the others were too tough and Ice grabbed a third place. Small things separated the alpacas in white and speaks volumes of the improvements on quality in the Norwegian alpaca population.

You can see Laila and Ice Rose above in the sixth picture. The line ups do not always look ordered and nice, but right below Laila and Ice you can see the best line up of the day!

The white male classes were also very competitive. Specialists in white, Alpacas of Norway, had brought a large group of the progeny from their male Blockbuster, but there were also offspring from many other great names, and Vanquish from Øyslebø got extra positive comments from the judge on his age. She was not used to seeing six years old alpacas in the show ring in North America.

Defiance from Alpacas of Norway grabbed the most sought-after title of Champion White, and also Reserve Champion White. They were overjoyed and when we congratulated Olav and Connie afterwards they were just one big smile! They both exclaimed "yes we beat you this year!", and we all laughed. We take it as a great compliment they they find it important to beat us, and replied with a "we will come back strong next year!" ;-)

Congratulations, Olav and Connie.

Then there was the line up for Supreme Champion, with all juniors. This title usually falls to an alpaca from fawn or white, but in the last two years it has been a fawn winner. Defiance won his class convincingly so we thought he was the strongest contender, but it was the young boy Enghaugen Erik that beat Big Bang in fawn that took the title of Supreme Champion. Line was very proud and rightly so. We congratulate Alpaca Enghaugen on the win. Sadly we do not have any photos from the Supreme Champion line up.

On Sunday we got home with our alpacas, all worn out and tired. But the alpacas was first and foremost happy to get home! Se above how eager they are to get out of the trailer and back to their herd.

It is important for us to remember that we are the ones who choose to bring the alpacas to the shows. The alpacas would rather be with their herd. That is why we halter train our alpacas well (it does not take long, after all) so that the halter part is not something new and scary in addition to all the other unfamiliar experiences at a show. We want it to be a good experience for the animals.

Many thanks to the show comittee for all the work you and your helpers put into the show!